Which to use
“maintenez” and “maintenir” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,907
- “maintenez” frequency rank
- #2,232
- “maintenir” frequency rank
- 40139
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maintenez | maintenir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de maintenir. | Tenir ferme et fixe. |
Where the eye mixes maintenez and maintenir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. maintenez and maintenir follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses maintenez with maintenir
A purely visual mix-up. maintenez (\mɛ̃.tə.ne\) and maintenir (\mɛ̃t.niʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40139, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maintenez is recorded at frequency rank #37,907, classified as averb, pronounced \mɛ̃.tə.ne\. maintenir is at rank #2,232, tagged as averb, pronounced \mɛ̃t.niʁ\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 40139, this pair ranks #242,746 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maintenez vs maintenir
Shared letters: aeimnt. Private to "maintenez": z. Private to "maintenir": r.
"maintenez" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVCVC · "maintenir" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "maintenez" for "maintenir" ever safe?
Which is more common, "maintenez" or "maintenir"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "maintenez" and "maintenir" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "maintenez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maintenir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #242,746 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maintenez" and "maintenir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maintenez vs Maintenon". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #242,746 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.